Ticket machines fail at Shrewsbury and Church Stretton car parks

Shropshire Council bagged up the payment meter in Church Stretton's Crossways car park in January in an unannounced trial of cashless-only payments using the MiPermit app.

The move has meant the car park, which has 13 bays as well as six coach and HGV bays, is now often empty as people cannot access the app due to lack of signal.

The problem has been highlighted in the town council's response to Shropshire Council's current consultation on proposed changes to its parking strategy.

The town council said: "The consultation wrongly states that in all car parks, there is the facility to pay by cash, card or phone.

"In an unannounced trial in January, the Council instituted a payment only by phone scheme at Crossways Car Park, by bagging up the cash machine.

"This was done against the advice of the Town Council, which argued, on the basis of experience, for a low-cost season ticket only scheme to increase usage.

"When asked for feedback in May, the Town Council requested a cessation of the trial, on the compelling grounds that phone reception at that location is variable and many local residents are uncomfortable with non-cash means of payment.

"The cash machine remains bagged and, as predicted, the car park is only occasionally used by a coach."

Flummoxed

The town council's statement also included criticism of "recurrent faulty" with the payment meters in the town's other car parks, saying it was a "continuing source of irritation".

A Shropshire Council spokesman said: "As part of the roll-out of Shropshire Council’s new parking strategy we have been trialling the removal of the pay and display machine in the Crossways car park.

"As a result, since January it has only been possible to pay for parking by phone, text, smartphone app or internet using MiPermit.

"We’ll now review the findings of this trial."

Meanwhile, motorists using car parks in Shrewsbury have also been experiencing problems with using the machines.

Those trying to pay by card have been left flummoxed and concerned they too may have been slapped with a fine. The machines were upgraded as part of the council's new parking policy.

Shropshire Council has been made aware of the problem which affected machines in Frankwell as well as other car parks in the town.

The fault developed early last week and many people took to social media to vent their frustration.

A Shropshire Council spokesperson said: “Shropshire Council is aware of a number of issues with card payments for parking in Frankwell and other locations, and engineers were called to resolve the issues and replace parts as necessary. Work is ongoing and completion expected this week.”